Journal lubricator for railroad cars



May 21, 1963 1 E. HOYER ETAL. 3,090,658

JOURNAL LUBRICATOR FOR RAILROAD CARS Filed June 26. 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet1 Inventors Llewellyn E. Hoger' y" I Rosser I wlson Edward R. Garage@Morne May 21, 1963 l.. E. HOYER ETAI. 3,090,658

JOURNAL LUBRIOATOR FOR RAILROAD CARS Filed June 26. 1.958 4 Sheets-Sheet2 F905 l {rif} 4311 Inventors Llewellgn E. finger' Ross er L. WilsonEdward R. Gorcgca.

May 2, 1963 L.. E. How-:R ETAL. 3,090,658

JOURNAL LUBRICATOR FOR RAILROAD CARS Filed June 26. 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet3 Inventors Llewellgn E. .Hoger Rosser L Wlon Edward R.Gorc5ca.

74-ttornegs May 21, 1963 L. E. HoYER ETAL 3,090,658

JOURNAL LUBRICATOR FOR RAILROAD CARS Filed June 26.. 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet4 Llewellgn E4I Hoger Rosser IIL/Wilson.

Edwn rd. R. Ciorcgca. B/ and, 2a/:AMW

Morneg/S United States Patent 3,096,658 JOURNAL LUBRECATOR FOR RAILROADCARS Llewellyn E. Hoyer, Wyckoff, and Rosser L. Wilson and Edward R.Gorcyca, Mahwah, NJ., assignors to American Brake Shoe Compartiv NewYork, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed .lune 26, 1958, Ser. No.744,811 Claims. (Cl. 30E- 243) This invention relates to a lubricatorfor the journal and bearing of a railroad car.

The long-practiced inode of lubricating the segmental bearing in arailroad car truck has been by way of socalled waste packing, but it isnow an accepted understanding that waste packing does not producereliable lubrication at high speeds of lthe railroad car and hascontributed to hot box problems. Proposals have been made to supplantwaste packing as la lubricator by having resort to various forms ofunitary pad inserts of oil absorbent material adapted to be arrangedbetween the lower periphery of the car journal and the oil reservoirafforded by the underslung lower wall of the journal boX. Pads of thiskind have heretofore been constructed in onepiece form and in multiplepad form, and in most instances substantially -better operation `isobtained in com parison to the historical mode of waste packing. Thus,the pad type of lubricator has reduced the likelihood of loose strandsof textile material from being drawn upwardly by the journal where .theyare trapped between the bearing and eventually ignite due to being wipeddry, and additionally much more effective relay of lubricant to thejournal has been realized in comparison to the previous standardpractice of waste packing lubrication.

The present invention is concerned with a multiple pad lubricator of theforegoing generalized construction, and one of the primary objects ofthe present invention is to enable a flexibily integrated two-padlubricator to be used under circumstances where there is an effectiverelay of lubricant to substantially the entire lower half of the carjournal in spite of some separation between the pads in achieving thedesired flexibility for ready conformability to the arcuate shape of thejournal.

Another object of the present invention is to so construct a lubricatorachieving the Iforegoing object while accounting for effectivelymaintaining the lubricator against shifting to the extent that one orthe other pad section might be rotated by the journal upward against thebottom' of the bearing.

Specifically, it is an object of the present invention to dispose a pairof resilient inserts of oil resistant material respectively in twoclosed loop, open-ended sleeves afforded by a fabric casing of wickingmaterial. These two sleeves are to be joined in a restricted area atadjacent inner sides to produce a highly flexibly or articulatedconnection accounting for ready conformability to the journal. Thus, asa result of the particular joining to be described hereinafter, thereresults between the two sleeves upwardly and downwardly openingV-channels. These channel shaped voids are to be lilled by a separatefiller of wicking material having loose loops disposed in the channels,and these two loops respectively constitute wicks disposed at the medialcenter line of the bottom of the journal box and at the nadir point ofthe journal between the two sleeves, thereby establishing a high wickingrate at the flexible center of the lubricator where normally there wouldbe voids tending to reduce the transfer of lubricant to the journal atthis vertical line. The outer vertical sides of the fabric casing aredrawn together in such a manner as to define end flaps, and these endflaps are reinforced by heavy cotton duck material to constitutestiifened end sections on the lubricator which will engage abutments ICCi within the journal box to maintain the lubricator in the desiredposition within limits and insure against undesired shifting of thelubricator within the journal box.

Other and further objects of the present invention will be apparent fromthe following description and claims and are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings which, by way of illustration, show preferredembodiments of the present invention and the principles thereof and whatis now considered to be the best mode contemplated for applying theseprinciples. Other embodiments of the invention embodying the same orequivalent principles may be used and structural changes may be made asdesired by those skilled in the art without departing from the presentinvention and the purview of the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an exploded schematic perspective of an assembly of partsembodied in a lubricator of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an assembled lubricator;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary side view of the medial section of thelubricator shown in FIG. 2 but with the inserts removed;

FIG. 4 is a sectional View taken at 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a railroad journal box containing alubricator of the present invention;

FG. 6 is an enlarged sectional View taken at 6 6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an end view of a modified lubricator;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. l but showing modifications;

FIG. 8A is a View showing a modified form of pullstrap; and

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but showing a modified form oflubricator in the journal box.

One form of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 2 of thedrawings as embodied in a lubricator 10 which, as shown in FIGS. 5 and6, is to be removably mounted in the journal box JB of `a railroad Vcarin position between the lower periphery of the car journal and thebottom wall 12 of the journal box. The construction shown in FIGS. 5 and6, insofar as the journal box is concerned, represents standard AARconstruction, and it will be noted that the journal I engages aconventional segmental bearing B which is held in position `at the topof the box by a conventional wedge W. The bottom wall 12 of the journalbox, being spaced well fbelow the journal I, affords ay reservoir forlubricating oil L, and the lubricator 10 being positioned therein willrelay large quantities of the lubricating oil onto the journal J whichin tlligrn will carry oil to the lining BL, FIG. 6, of the bearing Thelubricator 10 in the present instance is a two-pad construction andincludes a pair of block shaped inserts 14 and 15 of identicalconstruction, dimension and configuration so that the blocks 14 and 15are interchangeable and reversible. Each of the blocks 14 and i5consists of porous, resilient, oil resistant material such as foamneoprene or the like. These blocks are therefore highly compressible,and enlarged openings or passages 17 are formed in the opposite upperand lower faces thereof so as to extend but part way through the body ofthe pad thereby having dead ends 17E within the body of the pad which bydenitio-n are spaced from the opposite face of the block or pad-typeinserts. The minute pore openings in the body of the pad are virtuallyof capillary dimension and interconnected one with the other as is wellknown in porous constructions of this kind. Thus, the pore openings areof materially reduced dimension in comparison to the enlarged openings17, so that when the blocks are placed under compression due to up anddown movements of the journal J compressing the lubricator 1Q, oiltrapped within the openings 17 which open at the bottom of the blocks 14and 15 adjacent the bottom wall 12 of the journal box is placed undercompression. The trapped oil so compressed is forced upwardly throughthe porous body area of the inserts to emit as jet Sprays from the upperfaces thereof, and this accounts for an increased pressurized relay ofoil to the fabric casing surrounding the blocks 14 and 15. Thus, theordinary manner of lubrication in the present instance is bycapillarity, but under the circumstance described immediately abovethere will actually be pressure lubrication achieved without anymechanical parts.

The blocks 14 and 15 are rectangular on all sides and are to be arrangedwithin respective confining pockets afforded by a pair of closed loopsleeves 1S and 19, FIG. 1, and these sleeves are for-med from a fabriccasing of wicking material so that the lubricant absorbed in the blocks14 and 1S will soak by transfer capillarity into the sleeves in whichthe blocks 14 and 1S are confined. Additionally, the fabric casing isprovided with a pile surface as will be explained.

Thus, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the porous blocks 14 and 15 aresurrounded on their upper and lower faces and their side faces by afabric casing 2i? of light weight cotton duck material or the like. Thiscasing 2d is constructed from two like pieces of duck material 20A and20B, FIG. l, initially of rectangular form. Each wicking piece 20A andZLB, in constructing the lubricator, is folded in bight form with thefree ends 20E lapped one over the other at what will constitute theremote longitudinal outer sides of the casing. The end flaps thusafforded are preferably encased yin looped pieces of heavy duck 25folded in U-form and telescoped over the lapped ends 20E of the fabriccasing 2Q at the two outer sides. It should be explained in thisconnection that the chenille-type pile loops to be referred tohereinafter are not illustrated in FIG. l, but this loop pile surfacewill be present on the fabric pieces 26A and 213B when the duckstiffeners 25 are applied to the lapped ends ZE, and hence thestiifeners 25 will overlap and confine the pile loops present on the endaps 20E as will be recognized from FIG. 2.

In securing the stiffeners 25 in place, this is preferably accomplishedby stitching as indicated at 27 in FIG. 2, but when it is expected thatless severe circumstances will be encountered in the field, staples canbe used. It will be recognized that heavy canvas duck is chosen for thestiffeners 25 primarily because of availability, low cost and ease institching. These serve as limit stops as will be explained, and alsoconfine the pile loops present on the end flaps 20E, and hence numerousequivalents can be relied upon.

It will be recognized that the foregoing open-ended sleeve constructionaffords elongated pockets as shown in FIG. 1 when the sleeves 13 and 19afforded bythe fabric pieces 20A and 211B are opened. The sleeves are sodimensioned as to easily receive the porous block inserts 14 and 15, andof course the sleeves have opposed substantially parallel top and bottomsides corresponding in length and width to the top and bottom faces ofthe blocks 14 and 15,

i and have opposed substantiatlly parallel side faces correspending inheight and length to the corresponding dimensions of the side walls ofthe blocks 14 and 1S. Hence, when the blocks 14 and 15 are inserted intothe open ends of the sleeves, there will be good contact between theporous block inserts and the wicking material of which the fabric casingis composed.

In maintaining the blocks 14 and 15 in place, narrow webs 311 oflight-weight duck are secured to the open ends of the casing sleevesbeing stitched at the upper and lower ends thereof to the insidesurfaces of the upper `and lower faces of the sleeves in which theinserts 14 and 15 are disposed. Such stitching of the retainer webs 30is of course completed once the inserts 14 and 15 have been arranged inplace, at least in respect to the webs 30 at the open ends of thesleeves into which the inserts 14 and 15 are rst passed.

The adjacent inner sides of the sleeves are to be joined along Iarestricted longitudinal medial line to thereby ilexibly join the twosleeves to allow for ready conformability of the lubricator to thedimensions of the journal as shown in FIG. 6. This joining isaccomplished by stitching together the adjacent inner sides of the twosleeves as indicated at 35 in FGS. 3 and 4. Additionally, brass grommets36 are crimped in place at the fore and aft ends of the inner sides ofthe sleeves as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. In addition to reinforcing thestitching 35, these grornmets constitute hook receiving elements wherebya substantial force can be applied to the lubricator by a conventionalpacking hook incidental to positioning the lubricator within the journalbox or withdrawing the same from the journal box. By so resorting tometallic grommets, there is little likelihood that the packing hook willproduce tearing or distortion of the fabric casing.

As will be readily recognized from FIG. 3, upwardly and downwardlyopening V-channels 4t? and 41 are produced between the adjacent innersides of the sleeves respectively above kand below the securement as 35which joins the two sleeves at their adjacent inner sides. In accordancewith the present invention the \/channels 4l) and 41 are filled with anauxiliary or filler wick 43, FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. This filler wick is oflight weight duck wicking material, and in the form of the inventionshown in FIGS. l, 2 and 3, is separately constructed. Thus, the fillerwick 43 is made from la single piece of cotton duck wicking materialwhich is so folded as to have the free ends 43E, FIG. l, lapped one overthe other. This filler wick is arranged between the adjacent inner sidesof the sleeves before the latter are joined by the stitching 35. Hence,the iiller wick is stitched in place as an incident to the joining ofthe two sleeves, and preferably the lapped ends 43E of the filler wickare stitched together asa preliminary step.

The resultant construction is one wherein the filler wick affords anupper loose closed loop 43U disposed in the upwardly opening V channel40, and a like loose closed loop 43L disposed in the lower or downwardlyopening V-channel 41. Hence, and as shown in det-ail in FIG. 6, thelower loop 431. of the filler wick will be located at the longitudinalcenter line of the bottom wall of the journal box where the oil will beat its greatest depth. Furthermore, the upper loop 43U ofthe auxiliaryfiller wick will fill the void of the upper V-channel y40 in the areabetween the sleeves on the vertical center line of the journal. The netresult of this is rapid wicking of oil on to the nadir point of thejournal immediately from oil at the greatest depth in the journal box,and this is particularly so -in view of the fact that at this verticalline between the low point of the journal box and the low point of thejournal, there are in effect four plies of wicking material, these ofcourse being the summation of the adjacent inner sides of the twosleeves 18 and 19 and the two sides of the separable wick insert 43.

In order to further promote and enlarge the capacity of the lubricator,the fabric sleeves composing the fabric casing 26 are separately wovenwith cotton loops delinin'g an exceedingly thick and iluffy pile surfaceon exposed surfaces of the sleeves. This pile surface is afforded lbyconventional chenille weaving simply by looping the chenilling threadsback `and forth so that the chenille loops 50 are relatively taut withinthe fabric casing or cover 20 with the outer or exposed loops 51, FIG.3, in `an elongated loose state.

When the lubricator 10 is properly positioned in the journal box asshown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the heavily `matted pile loops 51 on the lowerfaces of the fabric sleeves rare for the most part submerged in oil inthe bottom of the journal box, and since the pile surface is continuouswith respect to individual chenille threads, eachsuch thread iseffective as an individual wick whereby the lubricating oil istransferred by direct capillarity to the exposed chenille -loops 51 onthe upper faces of the fabric sleeves. Of course the fabric casing,aside from the chenille loops, is a wick per se.

The lubricator will tend to pick up to some extent the motion of thejournal when the latter is rotating, and hence move slightly toward oneside or the other of the journal box depending on the direction ofrotation of the journal. However, the stiifened or reinforced end flapsat the two outer sides of the `lubricator will engage one or the otherwaste retainer lug WL or stop column SC, FIG. 6, of the journal boxthereby limiting the extent of lateral shift of the lubricator yandpreventing any entrapment thereof between the journal and the bearing B.It should `also be pointed out 4in this connection that the stiffenersor retainers 2S effectively shroud the loop piles that are present onthe end iiaps 20E of the fabric sleeves, and it has been found thatparticularly in cold weather such shrouding prevents the loose chenilleloops atr the end iiaps from being drawn upwardly or downwardly by thejournal.

A modification of the present linvention is illustrated in FIG. 7 havingto do with a modified -forrn of fabric casing 20A which affords thesleeves. In this particular form of the invention, the filler wick isconstructed from the fabric casing, and the stiifening of the outersides of the fabric casing to afford the retainers mentioned `above -isomitted. Thus, yas shown in FIG. 7, a pair of individual `fabric piecesof rectangular shape, similar to those described above and `dimensionedin the same manner and embodying chenille loop threads, are folded so`as -to have the -free ends 60E and 61E thereof lapped. These lappedends `are stitched together to complete closure of respective sleeves 60and `6l open at both ends, and retainer webs 30 of the |kind describedabove are associated therewith and completely stitched in place afterthe porous insert blocks (not shown in FIG. 7) have been placed withinthe sleeves 60 and 61.

The respective textile wick sheets affording the sleeves shown in FIG. 7are folded 4and tucked in an identical manner to complete the relatedsleeve and one half of the -wick filler. Thus, referring to the textilesheet for the sleeve 6l), this is folded downwardly from the lower endflap 60E to afford one hal-f of an outer side 64, inwardly to afford abottom side 65, and upwardly to afford an inner side 66. The inner sideat the top thereof is folded back on itself at 67 and extendeddownwardly at 68 in parallel relation to the side L66. The second plyinner side 68 is directed downwardly beyond the plane of the lower side65 and is looped back on itself at 69 to afford the lower half of thefiller loop and still a third inner side ply 70 is then turned at rightangles to afford the top side 71 which extends across the top lof thelubn'cator in parallel relation above the bottom side 65, and then isturned `down at 74 and out to the upper end flap 60E to` complete theouter side of the sleeve 60.

The right hand sleeve 61 can be viewed as an inverted mirror image of:the left hand sleeve 60 described above, having a filler wick loop 69Kwhich represents the upper loop of the lil-ler wick. The resultantsix-ply center section at the inside of the casing 20A is `stitchedtogether at 75 along a restricted medial longitudinal portion in themanner `described above 4for the casing 20, and grommets as 36 can beapplied at 4the fore `and aft ends `of the sti-tch 75. A lubricatorhaving the casing 20A will have the outward appearance of the lubricator10, FIG. 2, and when positioned in a journal box, the filler wick loops`69 and 69R will respectively occupy the positions of the filler wickloops 43L and 43U, FIG. 6.

Further modified forms of construction are illustrated in FIGS. l8, 8Aand 9, and referring to FIG. 8 the construction illustrated by thisfigure is identi-cal to what has been described `above in connectionwith FIG. l,

@82 on the loop sides of the stitches 81S and 82S.

except that the center filler wick, designated 43A in FIG. 8, -is ofgreater longitudinal dimension Ithan the sleeves 18 and `19, and theygrommets 36, FIG. 2 have been eliminated. Thus, the center ller wick43A has free edges 43AE that are abutted rather than lapped, and a strapy is laid over the abutted edges of the wick 43A and is stitched at SGSparallel to the abutted edges of the wick 43A to firmly secure the strap80 to` the center wick insert. The strap 80 is of substantially greaterlongitudinal dimension than the center wick 43A, and the free ends ofthe strap 80 are turned back on themselves to alford end loops 81 and82. The free ends of the loops are stitched at `81S `and 82S to theIinner portions of the `strap inwardly of the lloops 81 and 82.

The loops 8l and 82 constitute handles or hook receiving elements freelyavailable at the front and rear of the lubricator as shown in yFIG. 9,which illustrates the lubricator constructed in accordance with FG. 8 asmounted in position within a railroad journal box. It will also be notedin FIG. 9 that as a result of imparting greater longitudinal dimensionto the wick 43A in comparison to the center wick 43 of FIG. l, the endportions E1 and E2 of the center wick insert or filler 43A will wipe thefillet surfaces F1 and F2 of the car journal respectively at the collarand dust guard seat portions of the car journal. lIn other words, thesleeves of the lubricator of the present invention normally are of lesslongitudinal dimension than the distance separating such fillet surfacesof a standard car journal so that the major portions of the sleeves are`free of these fillet surfaces, Abut by lengthening the center fillerwick the ends ofthis wick will embrace the fillet surfaces F1 and 'F2and transfer copious amounts of lubricant thereto.

A modified form of the strap shown in FIG. 8 is illustrated at 30A inPIG. 8A. The construction is substantially the same asvthat illustratedat Si) in FG. 8,

but grommets 85 and 86 are fastened to the loops -81 and In eachinstance, however, the use of the strap S0 enables the entire pull to beabsorbed or borne by the strap during removal of the lubricator from thejournal box or positioning thereof in the journal box. The use of thegrommets 8S and S6 in addition to the stitching greatly increases thepull limit, and in any event the stitching discourages unraveling.

It should also be mentioned that while reference has been made to porouspad inserts of rectangular dimension, such dimensioning can be varied,and of course inserts of various forms and kinds can be used. Underproper circumstances, the porous pad inserts could be altogethereliminated and resort had to other means for urging and holding thewicking sleeves and the center wick against the car journal.

It will be seen that under the present invention, two fabric sleeves ofwicking material, closed on four sides and open at both ends (except forthe retainer elements as 3G) are flexibly joined at the inner sidesalong a restricted -medial portion only and are adapted to be filledwith porous insert members capable of absorbing large amounts of oil.Resultantly, there are V-channels above and below the ymedial securementbetween the sleeves, and wick loops are located therein in such a manneras to afford at least a four-ply center section producing voluminouswicking at the center where the inner sides of the sleeves are joined.The chenille loops are tightly packed in this center section andcontribute to Afurther heavy wicking of oil on to the nadir or bottomline of the journal J. Preferably stiff retainers of one construction oranother are affixed to the outer sides of the sleeves to projecttherefrom in normal relation, and constitute vstops or retainersengageable with fixed abutments on the inner side walls of the journalbox thereby helping to 4maintain the lubricator in place. Hence, whilewe have illustrated and described preferred embodiments of our 7invention it is to be understood that these are capable of variation andmodification, and we therefore do not wish to be limited to the precisedetails set forth, but desire to avail ourselves of such changes andalterations as fall within the purview of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A lubricator for the journal and bearing of a railroad car andcomprising, two elongated closed loop openended sleeves of woven wickingmaterial, said sleeves being secured together at their adjacent innersides along a restricted longitudinal center line to flexibly join thesleeves and produce upwardly and downwardly opening elongated V-ohannelsjoetween the adjacent inner sides of the sleeves respectively above andbelow said securement, a ller of woven wicking material arranged betweensaid sleeves at their adjacent inner sides, said filler having an upperloose closed loop portion lying in the upper V-channel and a Ilowerloose closed loop portion lying in the lower V-channel, individual padsof oil-absorbent material confined in each of said sleeves, said padseach having enlarged openings formed in the opposed faces thereof andextending but part way through the pad, narrow fabric webs secured tothe upper and lower sides of said sleeves at the open ends thereof tomaintain the pads in position within said sleeves, grommets aiXed to andjoining the inner sides of said sleeves, and members of material stifferthan the material comprising said sleeve being secured to the outersides of said sleeves and projecting outwardly therefrom.

2. A lubricator according to claim l wherein the sleeves are eachcomposed of a single piece of light weight .fabric woven -with pileloops and having the `free ends thereof joined at the outer sides of thesleeves to afford a pair of end aps, and wherein said end aps haveheavy-weight duck secured thereto and overlapping the pile loops on saidend flaps.

3. A lubricatorraccording to claim 1 wherein the filler is a separatemember.

4. A lubricator according to claim 2 wherein the filler is constructedby reversibly looping the two pieces of fabric material comprising thesleeves to aord a six-ply section between the two sleeves.

5. A lubricator for the journal and bearing of a railroad car, andcomprising two elongated sleeves of woven fabric wicking materialpresenting outer surfaces containing pile loops of wicking material,said sleeves having adjacent inner substantially paral-lel sides thatare substantially vertically oriented when the lubricator is installedin a journal boX and said sides being joined together along a restrictedlongitudinal center portion only whereby the unjoined portions of theadjacent inner sides of the sleeves afford upwardly and downwardlyopening V-channels, a wicking filler of separate material havingsubstantially parallel sides that are vertically oriented when thelubricator is installed in the journal box and said wicking ller beingarranged between and secured to said adjacent sides of the sleeves toalford a multipleply center wick section, said wicking filler presentingouter surfaces containing pile loops of wicking material, said iillerhaving an upper looped portion disposed in the upwardly openingV-channel and a like looped lower portion disposed in tne downwardlyopening Vchannel whereby the center section of the lubricator ischaracterized by four continuous plies of wicking material that extendfrom contact with the deepest part of the journal box to the lowest partof the journal such that each of said plies is at least as long as thevertical height of the lubricator, individual pads of porous oilabsorbent material confined in each of said sleeves and means formaintaining said pads in place within said sleeves.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,807,803 Rockwell Sept. 24, 1957 2,856,248 Hoyer et al. Oct. 14, 19582,915,860 Hoyer et al Dec. 8, 1959 2,927,828 Harkenrider Mar. 8, 19602,991,135 Harkenrider July 4, 1961 3,025,117 Arnett et al. Mar. 13, 1962OTHER REFERENCES Per-feet Journal Lubrication, by Lubrication ProductCo., Cleveland, Ohio, published June 1, 1937.

1. A LUBRICATOR FOR THE JOURNAL AND BEARING OF A RAILROAD CAR ANDCOMPRISING, TWO ELONGATED CLOSED LOOP OPENENDED SLEEVES OF WOVENWSICKING MATERIAL, SAID SLEEVES BEING SECURED TOGETHER AT THEIR ADJACENTINNER SIDES ALONG A RESTRICTED LONGITUDINAL CENTER LINE TO FLEXIBLY JOINTHE SLEEVES AND PRODUCE UPWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY OPENING ELONGATEDV-CHANNELS BETWEEN THE ADJACENT INNER SIDES OF THE SLEEVES RESPECTIVELYABOVE AND BELOW SAID SECUREMENT, A FILLER OF WOVEN WICKING MATERIALARRANGED BETWEEN SAID SLEEVES AT THEIR AJACENT INNER SIDES, SAID FILLERHAVING AN UPPER LOOSE CLOSED LOOP PORTION LYING IN THE UPPER V-CHANNELAND A LOWER LOOSE CLOSED LOOP PORTION LYING IN THE LOWER V-CHANNEL,INDIVIDUAL PADS OF OIL-ABSORBENT MATERIAL CONFINED IN EACH OF SAIDSLEEVES SAID PADS EACH HAVING ENLARGED OPENINGS FORMED IN THE OPPOSEDFACES THEREOF AND EXTENDING BUT PART WAY THROUGH THE PAD, NARROW FABRICWEBS SECURED TO THE UPPER AND LOWER SIDES OF SAID SLEEVES AT THE OPENENDS THEREOF TO MAINTAIN THE PADS IN POSITION WITHIN SAID SLEEVES,GROMMET AFFIXED TO AND JOINING THE INNER SIDES OF SAID SLEEVES, ANDMEMBERS OF MATERIAL STIFFER THAN THE MATERIAL COMPRISING SAID SLEEVEBEING SECURED TO THE OUTER SIDES OF SAID SLEEVES AND PROJECTINGOUTWARDLY THEREFROM.